Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
Investors Meet on Opportunities in Indian Upstream Oil & Gas Sector
Government of India today organized a promotional event in Mumbaito showcase Upstream Oil & Gas opportunities in India,with the objective to market the portfolio of high-volume Oil and Gas assets of Indian Sedimentary basins, and to promote the Bidding Rounds of Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing policy, Discovered Small Field Policy and Production Enhancement Contract.
The event saw enthusiastic participation from leaders of National oil companies, private E&P companies, service providers, Private Equity Firms and Financial Institutions.The event was chaired by Shri. Amarnath, Additional Secretary , Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. The event also comprised of officials from Ministry and Directorate General of Hydrocarbons , CII National Committee on Hydrocarbons, E&P operators and IIT Bombay.
The sessions highlighted the array of opportunities available in Indian E&P sector through OALP bid round VI and DSF Bid round-III bid which are aligned to Revenue Sharing Contract regime ensuring ease of doing business. The session also focused on fields on offer through Production Enhancement contract.
The session commenced with an engaging film on Oil and Gas upstream opportunities followed by an Opening remark by Dr. Anand Gupta, Additional Director General , DGH which was focused on achieving producing targets of 40 million tonnes of Oil and 50 BCM of Gas by 2023-24,requiring an investment of about $50 Billion in next 4 years. Shri Vinay Malhotra  and Mr. Santosh Chandra  spoke aboutthe improving E&P landscape of India and role of service sector in attaining self-reliance in energy sector through maximizing economic production. Shri Rajdeep Singh, Additional Director General , DGH delivered a presentation on Investment opportunities offered through HELP, DSF and Incentive structure available in E&P sector. ONGC also showcased opportunities available through Production Enhancement Contract.
In order to apprise the potential investors regarding the E&P sector, Operators which are already involved in E&P sector, shared their working experience. In line with the objective of collaborating with academia, Dr. Santanu Banerjee, Prof. Shriresh B Kedare and Prof. H K Singhfrom IIT Bombay shared their perspective of upstream oil and gas sector. They spoke about the ongoing research in upstream oil and gas sector domain area which included reservoir management, gas hydrates, artificial intelligence and machine learning etc.
Shri Anurag Sharma, Director , ONGC delivered address on the opportunities provided by ONGC through Production Enhancement Contract. Shri. Amarnath, Additional Secretary , Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, delivered a keynote address, highlighting the increasingly growing positive industry sentiments and signs of steadfast recovery of India’s Oil & Gas sector through transformative reforms introduced by the government.He shared a glimpse of progressive Indian Economy with increasing energy demand and also focused on the growing role of oil and sector in catering the energy demand in the long run.
In order to facilitate the operators in terms of financing, an interaction was held between operators and Financial Institutions/Private Equity firms  which was followed by address of Ms. Usha Suresh, Senior Economic Advisor, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.Dr. C. Laxma Reddy, Additional Director General focused on the need for collaboration between Finance, Academia, Industry and Government which is of utmost importance in improving the E&P landscape.
To provide clarifications to operators and potential investors regarding available opportunities and on any other issue, one on one interaction was also held with government officials, existing Operators, potential investors and PE Firms.
E&P opportunities showcased at the event:
- OALP Bid Round VI- 21 Blocks on offer across 11 sedimentary basins covering ~35,346 Sq. Km of area. Out of 21 Blocks, 15 Blocks are On-land type, 4 Blocks are Shallow Water type and 2 Blocks are Ultra Deep-Water type.

- DSF Bid Round- III- 32 Contract areas  on offer covering ~13685 Sq. Km of area with an estimated in place resource of 232 Million Metric tonne of oil equivalent.

- Production Enhancement Contract- 43 marginal nomination fields across 11 contract areas on offer with an estimated in place resource of 160 Million Metric tonne of oil equivalent.